Castle Starý Herštejn

Starý Herštejn Castle is a medieval ruin perched on a forested hill in the Bohemian Forest (Český les), just southeast of Vranov in the Domažlice district of the Chod region. Little survives of its walls today, but the site remains one of the more evocative stops in this stretch of borderland near Bavaria.

Where exactly are the ruins?

The remains sit on a wooded hilltop near the village of Pivoň, a short distance from Domažlice and right next to Vranov. The spot was chosen deliberately: the castle once watched over an old trade route running from Horšovský Týn through Poběžovice into Bavaria. The hill itself is now protected as a nature reserve, which adds to the sense of stepping into an untouched corner of the forest.

Who built it, and when?

The stronghold went up in the second half of the 13th century, most likely before 1266. Earlier accounts credited Bohemian rulers with founding it, but more recent research points instead to a German noble family. The earliest surviving document to name the castle dates from 1272 and mentions a certain Protivec of Herštejn. A chronicle from the Bavarian town of Schönsee records that the Bohemian king seized the stronghold, ordered it reinforced, and turned it into a fortified outpost guarding the frontier.

How did ownership change over the centuries?

Herštejn passed through a long chain of owners. Before 1328, Count Oldřich of Leuchtenberg acquired the estate and sold it on to Duke Henry of Bavaria for a thousand groschen — a sum that was apparently never paid in full. The castle then came, under circumstances that remain unclear, into the hands of King John of Luxembourg, who in 1331 resold it for a much smaller sum, three hundred groschen, to the Prague bishop John IV of Dražice. During the Hussite Wars the stronghold was captured by troops from the town of Domažlice, yet it continued to be used afterward.

What brought the castle down?

The end came in 1510, when the robber knight Zdeněk Dobrohost of Ronšperk stormed and destroyed the fortress. Earlier, on Christmas Eve of 1484, the castle had already been the scene of a violent raid that still lingers in local memory. Between the siege that ended it and the raid decades before, Starý Herštejn earned a reputation in the region as a place with a genuinely dark past.

What can visitors see on site today?

What remains is mostly the lower section of a round tower standing at the southern edge of the hilltop ridge, scattered stretches of perimeter wall hidden among dense vegetation, and clearly traceable remnants of the moat and rampart that once protected the lower outer ward. Archaeological surveys carried out between 2006 and 2008 shed new light on the castle's original layout, confirming the existence of a second tower that had previously only been suspected. The whole site is listed as a cultural monument of the Czech Republic.

Frequently asked questions

How far is Starý Herštejn Castle from Vranov? The ruins lie just southeast of Vranov, near the village of Pivoň, in the Domažlice district.

When was the castle built? Most likely before 1266, in the second half of the 13th century — the first written record naming it dates from 1272.

Why did the castle stop being used? It was stormed and destroyed in 1510 by the robber knight Zdeněk Dobrohost of Ronšperk.

What can you actually see there today? The lower part of a round tower, fragments of the perimeter wall, and clear traces of the moat and rampart that once guarded the outer ward — all protected as a cultural monument.